Sad

So I ran across a newsclip talking about this site called The Blasphemy Challenge. Basically they challenge people to say "I deny the Holy Spirit" in a video and post it on youtube. I think it's sad that they are preying on the rebellious spirit of teens in trying to get them to embrace atheism and reject spirituality.
So I was watching some of the videos and ran across this one. It is especially interesting to me because the guy that is taking the "challenge" was raised in a Christian home. He embraced Christianity as a child. Somehow the church failed to connect him to a real sense of the spiritual and probably to spiritual disciplines as well. I think he was also burned because of the horrific example he had from within his church. He notes in his video that he was baptized by Joe Simpson, the father of Ashlee and Jessica Simpson. Joe Simpson used to be a youth pastor, but from viewing the Newlyweds show that used to be on MTV, he has pretty much abandoned any evidence of Christianity in his life.
It saddens me that the church is so ineffective at helping students deepen their faith. We're so dependent on programming to pacify students. Then once they leave for college, they don't have that programming, so they have no way of staying connected to Church and God.
JM

Stage Awkwardness

One of the most uncomfortable feelings is when awkwardness is coming from a stage. I was just watching a giveaway during the halftime of the Fiesta bowl. A guy was throwing a football through a hole to win $100,000. After he did it, they told him he was getting a new house as well. Great stuff for him. The problem was that he was being paraded around like a puppet by the announcer. "Bring in your family", "Jump through the hole", do this, do that. Not a pretty moment. It becomes uncomfortable to watch when people don't have the right reactions, or people miss their cues.
My church is really bad about this, especially at the end of our worship hours. There are missed handoffs all over the place. As soon as the commitment song is over, someone is supposed to pray for the offering. But there is usually dead air. Then there is dead air afterwards as the host is unsure of what to do. The confusion makes everyone uncomfortable, right at the moment when you want to leave them feeling good.
The more you can communicate what is going to happen to people that will be on stage, the better things will go for you. It's always better to overcommunicate. JM